Read the World: China

Books by authors from China or set in/about China.

Updated February 16, 2024
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Dragon seed
Buck, Pearl S. (Pearl Sydenstricker), 1892-1973.
Paper Book
A private life [electronic resource]
Chen, Ran, 1962-
Paper Book
From one of China's most celebrated contemporary novelists comes this riveting tale of a young woman's emotional and sexual awakening. Set in the turbulent decades of the Cultural Revolution and the Tian'anmen Square incident, A Private Life exposes the complex and fantastical inner life of a young...
The Dragon's Village
Chen, Yuan-tsung, 1932-
Paper Book
Bad kids
Chen, Zijin
Paper Book
A dark Chinese suspense thriller about teenage accountability, where no one is innocent, for fans of Keigo Higashino.
The story of paper
Compestine, Ying Chang.
Paper Book
After the Kang brothers get in trouble at school, the devise a way to make paper, which will make things easier for both their teacher and themselves.
Atlas [electronic resource] the archaeology of an imaginary city
Dong, Qizhang, 1967- author.
Paper Book
Set in the long-lost City of Victoria (a fictional world similar to Hong Kong), Atlas is written from the unified perspective of future archaeologists struggling to rebuild a thrilling metropolis. Divided into four sections-"Theory," "The City," "Streets," and "Signs"-the novel reimagines Victoria...
Homesick my own story
Fritz, Jean
Paper Book
"Fritz draws readers into scenes of her youth in the turbulent China of the mid-twenties. . . . the generous affection of her nurse/companion . . . her mother's grief over losing a second child, the dynamics of asuffering population venting its hostility on foreigners, and most of all, the...
Soul mountain = [Ling shan]
Gao, Xingjian
Paper Book
"If a successful novelist is one who tells us something new about the human spirit and a successful novel transports us to another world, then Gao and Soul Mountain have succeeded spectacularly." -- Washington Post Book World An extraordinary work of immense wisdom and profound...
Celebrated cases of Judge Dee = Dee goong an an authentic eighteenth-century Chinese detective novel
Gulik, Robert Hans van, 1910-1967
Paper Book
Long before Western writers had even conceived the idea of writing detective stories, the Chinese had developed a long tradition of literary works that chronicled the cases of important district magistrates. These judges held a unique position. As "fathers to the people" they...
The haunted monastery a Judge Dee mystery
Gulik, Robert Hans van, 1910-1967 author, illustrator.
Paper Book
Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder. Recalling the allegedly accidental...
My Beijing four stories of everyday wonder
Jun, Nie, 1975- author, illustrator.
Paper Book
A 2019 Batchelder Honor Book Yu'er and her grandpa live in a small neighborhood in Beijing--and it's full of big personalities. There's a story around every corner, and each day has a hint of magic. In one tale, Yu'er wants to swim in the...
The piano teacher a novel
Lee, Janice Y. K.
Paper Book
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. In 1942, Will Truesdale, an Englishman newly arrived in Hong Kong, falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their love affair...
Yeh-Shen a Cinderella story from China
Louie, Ai-Ling
Paper Book
Told with beauty and grace, this Cinderella story from Ai-Ling Louie is brought vividly to life by Caldecott Medal-winner Ed Young's soft, glowing illustrations. Half-starved and overworked by her stepmother, Yeh-Shen's only friend is a fish with golden eyes. When the stepmother...
Diary of a madman and other stories
Lu, Xun
Paper Book
"Here at last is an accurate and enjoyable rendering of Lu Xun's fiction in an American English idiom that masterfully captures the sardonic wit, melancholy pathos, and ironic vision of China's first truly modern writer." -Michael S. Duke, University of British Columbia The inventor...
The moon in the palace [electronic resource]
Randel, Weina Dai.
Paper Book
A thrilling work of historical fiction, bringing romance, intrigue, and the unexpected rise of an Empress to intoxicating life under the inscrutable moon. In Tang Dynasty China, a concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the Emperor's attention. Many...
Snow flower and the secret fan a novel
See, Lisa.
Paper Book
Lily is haunted by memories–of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness. In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound...
The history of the west wing
Sun, Jiayu, 1960- author.
Paper Book
Lavishly illustrated in full color and based on the classic Chinese play Xixiang Ji by Wang Shifu, The History of the West Wing tells of the illicit romance between the daughter of a Chinese government official and the roaming scholar who seeks to win her hand. But before he can turn...
The kitchen god's wife
Tan, Amy.
Paper Book
Here is the eagerly awaited new novel from the author of The Joy Luck Club, the powerful and moving bestseller hailed by the Los Angeles Times Book Review as powerful . . . full of magic. Convinced that she is dying, an elderly Chinese woman living in San Francisco decides to reveal all the...
The money demon [electronic resource] an autobiographical romance
Tianxuwosheng.
Paper Book
"It's such a pity! I, too used to think of money and love as entirely separate things." So begins this popular autobiographical novel, written by litterateur, inventor, and business tycoon Chen Diexian (1879-1940), a remarkable intellectual whose life spanned the old China and the...
The song of everlasting sorrow [electronic resource] A Novel of Shanghai
Wang, Anyi, 1954-
Paper Book
Set in post-World War II Shanghai, The Song of Everlasting Sorrow follows the adventures of Wang Qiyao, a girl born of the longtong, the crowded, labyrinthine alleys of Shanghai's working-class neighborhoods. Infatuated with the glitz and glamour of 1940s Hollywood, Wang Qiyao seeks...
Grandmaster of demonic cultivation: mo dao zu shi (the comic / manhua), volume 1 [electronic resource].
Xiu, Mo Xiang Tong.
Paper Book
Song of the Silk Road
Yip, Mingmei.
Paper Book
In this richly imaginative novel, Mingmei Yip--author of Peach Blossom Pavilion and Petals From the Sky--follows one woman's daunting journey along China's fabled Silk Road. As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Lily Lin was captivated by photographs of the desert--its long,...
Love in a fallen city [electronic resource]
Zhang, Ailing.
Paper Book
Masterful short works about passion, family, and human relationships by one of the greatest writers of 20th century China.  A New York Review Books Original   "[A] giant of modern Chinese literature" -The New York Times   ...
Shanghai Express [electronic resource]
Zhang, Henshui, 1895-1967.
Paper Book
In this suspenseful tale of seduction and deception, a wealthy banker is smitten by an alluring young woman while traveling aboard the express train from Beijing to Shanghai. A consummate storyteller and one of the most popular novelists of his day, Zhang Henshui sweeps us on board with them and...
The cook, the crook, and the real estate tycoon [electronic resource] A Novel of Contemporary China
Zhenyun, Liu.
Paper Book
The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon by prize-winning Chinese novelist Liu Zhenyun is a novel of Beijing that paints a microcosm of contemporary China, dealing with classes at the two extremes: the super rich and the migrant workers who make them rich through deceit and corruption....

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